Vienna
by Sakura123
Summary: COMPLETE: May 22nd, 2009, through the eyes of Rob's brother, Jason Hawkins. My 50TH FanFiction posted!


**Vienna**

* * *

**Author:** Sakura123

**Category:** Cloverfield

**Timeline:** Takes place before and during movie

**Rating: T**

**Written: 5/28/08**

**Completed: 6/4/08**

**Characters:** Jason Hawkins; Lily Ford; Marlena Diamond; Hudson Platt; Rob Hawkins; Beth McIntyre

**Summary:** May 22nd, 2009, through the eyes of Rob's brother, Jason Hawkins.

**Disclaimer:** _Cloverfield_ and all things related, are property of J.J. Abrams, Matt Reeves, Drew Goddard, and Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved. Original Storyline and Characters are property of me, the author. All rights reserved. _"Vienna"_ lyrics are property of The Fray.

**Authors Note:** Originally called _"Stuck"_, this idea was created from listening to the CDs, _"How To Save a Life"_ and _"One-X"_, by The Fray and Three Days Grace, which is ironic, given the character its focused on. I was interested in writing something from Jason's POV, mainly because he's my favorite character and mainly because I intrigued by his personality. The title was changed after listening to _"Vienna"_ which carried me to the very end of this story. So I hope fans of _Cloverfield_ (or Jason Hawkins) will enjoy this. Beforewarned there are some things that were not in the movie (screaming outside the store and all); There are moments I extended when the camera cut off. **A word of warning**: The point of view of the story shifts from First Person to Third person frequently, so I really hope its not too confusing for you to read. Also, if any mention of **9-11-01** beyond brief bothers you in the least, please don't leave flaming remarks. I'd appreciate it greatly if you didn't.

* * *

_The day's last one-way ticket train pulls in _

_We smile for the casual closure capturing. _

_Here comes the downpour _

_There goes my fare thee well_

_There's really no way to reach me_

_There's really no way to reach me_

_There's really no way to reach me_

'_Cause I'm already gone_

_Only so many words that we could say _

_Spoken upon long-distance melody._

_This is my hello _

_This is my goodness_

* * *

--Waking up to a panicked Lily Ford is not the greatest thing in the world. Especially if you wake up with a hangover strong enough to kill. She was so eager to get Rob's going away party moving, that the fist time she woke me up, it was around 6:00am in the morning. She attempted to hand me my brother's camera, which he left behind the last time he visited Lil and I…

-- "Its too early, Lily!" Jason whined, turning over in the bed. "The sun's not even up yet!" Lily, however, was not easily dissuaded. Reaching over she pulled the sheet from off of Jason's head. Draping herself over his bare upper body, Lily took a hold of his hand and attempted to slip his fingers through the Velcro strap. "Lily, seriously, if you don't leave me alone…," He warned.

"Jason, this is your brother's going away party. We've got to get ready!" She hissed, throwing her leg over his side so that she was straddling him. Jason never bothered to roll over despite her weight pressing down on him. "Lily, its too early and I have a headache," Jason shot back, fighting to get the covers out of her possession.

"Then you shouldn't have drank so much last night," Lily scolded him, releasing the sheets from her grip. Jason tugged the cover back over his head and shifted further down on the bed, it was difficult given who was sitting on him. His girlfriend growled, trying to pull the cover back. "Jason, this is important. I have been planning this for two weeks now!" Jason pulled the cover down from his head and shot his girlfriend a bleary look.

"Then what's --" He squinted at the digital clock beside the bed. "--What's six more hours? Please let me sleep this off, and I promise I'll be your slave forever after today," Jason stated, ducking back under the covers when Lily grabbed a pillow and hit him with it. "You're my slave anyway, jerk," Lily's tone was terse, but Jason could hear the amusement in her voice. Jason reframed from laughing at her brazen tactics as he made himself comfortable again. "I love you too, babe," He laughed.

-- Somehow I managed to convince Lily to come back to bed to get a few more hours of sleep. I love Lily, but the way she winds herself up over things sometimes is trying. I don't think my tendency to never take the things she worries over seriously helps either. But she shouldn't worry so much. The party would be fine, Rob would have a great time, then go to Japan and have an even greater time.

When Lily woke me up again, my hangover-headache was gone and it was 12:00pm in the afternoon; I'm a late sleeper (especially after I drink). Naturally, I was going too slow and Lily was practically behind me while I tried to freshen up, demanding that I "hurry up". She also decided to bring up her favorite pet peeve. My fuzz; Lily requested that I shave so I could look marginally presentable for my brother's party but I wouldn't hear a word of it. My copycat of a brother would never let me live it down, especially after I called him a "man-child" at his graduation. Anyway, Lily entrusted me with my brother's camera while we drove across all of downtown, making sure the last of the party supplies were ready for pick up.

Along the way, we dropped by her friend's, Marlena Diamond, apartment to make sure she was coming to the party. She was kinda drunk when she said "okay, but get me another drink" the first time we asked, a week ago. For the sake of my lil' bro's friend, Hud, I said to her, "…Yeah, even Hud'll be there." Marlena just looked at me with the blankest "duh" expression and said "Who's Hud?" I didn't bother to elaborate, she'd find out soon enough. We ended up staying and chatting (Lily was chatting, I just sat there holding the dormant camera) for two hours!

Two hours, man! I finally had to drag Lily out of the apartment and remind her of Rob's party. Another quirk about Lily; she's way too apologetic sometimes, especially when she allows herself to wander from a goal she's dead set on achieving and just happens to drag someone along with her. So while she was kicking herself, I calmly coaxed her out of said state of mind, assuring her that "It happens, its not your fault and there's nothing to be sorry for." Finally, she calmed down and we were on our way again. With all the necessary items packed, no, crammed, into the car, we were now just picking up party-favors and massive amounts of junk-food. We parked the car just a walk away from a quaint convenience store and started up the busy street. It was then that Lily reminded me of Rob's camera, still clutched in my sweaty hand. That was about 6:45pm.

--Jason was taking large steps to keep up with his girlfriend's hasty pace, but Lily never seemed to notice. "Turn that thing on already, Jason!" Lily shouted over the traffic. "Hang on, Lil!" Jason shouted, slowing down. He turned it over in his hands, trying his damndest to decipher the techno-babble above the buttons. Whatever happened to the simple "on/off" - "zoom in/out" buttons from the eighties and nineties? A moment later he spotted a green button and pushed it. The view screen came to life a second later, just as Jason stepped into the street. "All right, is this thing on?" He muttered himself, ignoring the honks of the horns, as the cars slowed down and swerved away from him.

A mini-van came to halt just inches away from, Jason moved on without acknowledging the angry driver. "Look out!" Lily cried, pausing in her frantic pace. Jason grumbled irritably, trying to work the camera. "Babe, its not my camera! I don't know if this is the "on" button or the "zoom" button," Jason retorted. "Here, here, here! I got it. Is this on?" Jason squinted at the view screen in question. Lily shot him an exasperated look as she continued down the sidewalk. Jason just admired the switch in her walk, following clumsily after her. "Oh, perfect. And now we can have a nice recording of you getting run over," She deadpanned. Jason paused for a second, looking over the camera with a mock-grin on his face. Was that a joke? "Is that funny?" He let out an over-exaggerated laugh he knew would annoy Lily.

"When is everybody showing up? Its getting late, here," He asked, serious.

"In a couple hours. That's why we have to hurry," Lilly replied. Jason looked through the camera's view screen again, admiring Lily's figure. "Where are we going?" Jason inquired, scratching the top of his head. "We're going … we're just going around the corner, to the store!" She stammered, turning to meet his gaze briefly. Jason groaned in dismay, another damn store. His brother better appreciate this "party" of his, or he was going to pummel him for all this voluntary labor.

-- So once we got into the connivance store, I got the bright idea of telling, complaining actually, to Lily about having to "document" everyone's testimonials to my departing brother. I mean, that's not my idea of fun, man. And like I told my girl, "it's a shit job!" Naturally, Lil would not hear any of my protests, I only succeeded in pissing her off. I was given the silent treatment afterward, so I left her alone and chatted with a few of the early arrivals and even got some testimonials along the way. After a half hour of lugging that stupid camera around, I had to get rid of it.

But I couldn't just give this thing to anyone (Rob would kill me), I had to find the right person, otherwise I'd be stuck with this thing all night because somebody caved under the smothering stare of Lily Ford. I scanned the relatively small room and spotted Hud posting a sign up on the wall. "Score," I muttered making haste across the room. Hud was blissfully unaware of my presence until I called his name a second time. He looked away from the banner in question, almost dreading my approach. "…Listen to me, I have a job for you," I told him.

It didn't take a lot of convincing Hud to take the camera. He relented, of course, but all it took was the mention of Marlena and he was sold - kinda. I left my own little "testimonial" to my brother just to prove to his friend, of all people, how easy his new job was. Hud took to his new duty with enthusiasm. "You enjoy it Hud," Was all I said to him before leaving to take care of something else, now that the Camera was not my problem anymore. It was really wasn't hard to dodge Lily when she was preoccupied, even in a confined area such as this.

But what never failed to surprise me was how Lily never noticed Hud carrying Rob's camera. I guess, she was too busy dragging me out the door so we could change our clothes. I didn't see a problem with what we were wearing, but Lily insisted that we at least dressed in semi-formal clothes. She wasn't too thrilled when I just put on my _"Slusho!"_ T-Shirt, my maroon dress shirt and less raggedy pair of jeans. But she was looking very stunning in her cocktail dress.

* * *

Later, when we came back, I spent most of my time up on the roof, "bird watching", when my help wasn't needed. It was a little warm with the sun shining directly on the roof, but it was nothing I could complain about. My thoughts, more or less, rested on Rob. The last time I talked to him, he told me about the promotion. Reserved as he is, there was no hiding his excitement by the very notion of getting a bigger paycheck, with the exception that he had to move from New York to Japan. Now that bummed him out a bit, but he stood it in stride.

After that I really didn't see that much of him; He sent the occasional MySpace message or E-mail, dropped a line to talk to Lily twice within the month of April. Afterward, he kinda disappeared into his work. That's when Lily got the bright idea of throwing him a going away party just before he left. When she remembered I had a spare key to my brother's apartment, that's when the ball really got moving and took a sharp left turn into a surprise party. It was suddenly was a good thing Rob wasn't around, it made planning this shindig so much easier. Scratching my fuzz, I averted my gaze down at my hands. I wasn't alone for long; Hud came stumbling through the door, camera in hand.

--

"Dude, Lily wants you in the apartment. The party's already started," Hud panted. Jason looked up from his dirty fingernails to regard Hud, while he processed what he told him. That took about a second. Jason jumped off the ledge and followed Hud down stairs back into the apartment.

--

The party was pretty active when I entered the apartment. Rob either knows a lot of people or someone told these guys there would be free drinks. There was only one instance where Hud dumped the camera on me. Lily was coming by and her eyes locked right onto me, I positioned the camera accordingly and waved to her. She stopped being angry with me long enough to flash me a smile, a genuine one. Once she was out of sight, I tracked Hud down and handed him the camera.

After that, I spent most of my time at the buffet tables, counting the hours down to when my brother would arrive. I really wasn't paying any attention to my surroundings (or Hud, who was doing a fantastic job "documenting" by the way), until I heard Lily say something to Hud. I nearly choked on the mini-Twix I was eating. Hud, on the other hand, managed to stay relatively calm about the situation. He even distracted Lil from the fact that I wasn't even doing my job.

Lily gave her testimony to the camera, one I interrupted twice for some rather scathing commentary directed toward me (payback most likely). I was going to interrupt again until Hud silenced me with a simple "Dude!" I backed off. Lily was doing a great job with her speech until Hud got distracted by Marlena.

--

Jason stuffed three shrimp into his mouth to keep from laughing at Hud as the young man inched away from Lily. Picking up his bottle of Budweiser, he made an attempt to disappear into the crowd but a hand clamped down onto his shoulder. Jason turned to meet the disappointed face of his girlfriend, he cringed guiltily. "Can't you ever be serious?" She asked, irritably. Jason pretended to look confused by her question as he chewed his shrimp. Lily waited until Jason finished swallowing his food before speaking. "Was it so hard to do what I asked?" Lily said, folding her arms across her chest. "Yes, I can be serious, even you know that Lil. And, no, it wasn't hard, I just didn't want to do it," Jason replied honestly. Lily sighed in resignation. "Besides, Hud's doing a great job! Better than I could've, babe," He answered.

Lily decided not to comment on that, her eyebrows raised when Jason's eyes lit up. "Hey, your talking to me again. Does mean I'm forgiven?" Jason grinned. Lily turned away from the Japanese lanterns to regard her boyfriend, a second later she smiled. "Yes," Lily answered. Jason closed the distance between them, wrapping a arm around her waist he kissed her, a gesture she returned with equal affection. Scattered whoops and wolf whistles emerged from the crowd, in the corner of his eye, Jason caught Hud videotaping them before moving over to Marlena.

They broke apart, taking a breath. Jason couldn't stop smiling, Lily readjusted the chopsticks in her hair, unable to hide her own smile. "I'm going to check on … something," Lily stammered, a giggle escaping her. Jason nodded, he stole another kiss before departing. Lily remained rooted in her spot, her finger tips brushing her lips. She was pulled out of her daze fast enough to catch Hud focusing the camera on her. "Hud!" She cried, aghast.

"What? I was just documenting!" Hud said.

--

* * *

Well, Rob finally arrived to his surprise party and was more or less, just that: surprised. So much in fact, that he attempted a great escape and one of his friends had to go retrieve him. _Dweeb_, I thought. Once inside, Rob had to face the music and actually made something of a decent speech to the crowd. The party really seemed to liven up because of his presence, even Lily was more animated. She pulled me across the room and demanded that I dance with her. Like I'd say no. With that one bottle of beer in my hand I twirled her about and held her close as we swayed to the music. I pulled myself away from Lil long enough so I could talk to the man of the hour.

"So?" I asked, interrupting his train of thought.

Rob just kind of looked at me with this nervous sort of smile then downed a cup of sake. "So what?" He repeated, casually. I rolled my eyes, were we really going to play word tag? I leaned against the counter behind us, playing with the peeling label of my bottle. "So, what do you think? Of your party?" I asked. Rob shrugged his shoulders allowing his eyes wander across the moving bodies crammed in his apartment. "Its great. You, Lily, and everybody else did a really great job," He said. "I wasn't expecting this when I came home." He discarded his cup and took a gulp from the ivory bottle. "Hm. That's good," I replied, averting my gaze.

We stood together in awkward silence, I was seriously expecting a little more of a reaction than what he gave me. I felt Rob nudge me, I turned to him question. Rob pointed towards Charlie, who was chatting up a storm with a very uninterested Marlena. "I was not expecting Charlie to be here. I still owe him eleven dollars," He said. I looked to Charlie, then back to my brother before laughing. "Really?" I chuckled. Rob just nodded, laughing himself. That's all that it took to break the ice. Our conversation started out with how he would be promoting _Slusho!_ to the "Western Audience" before it trailed off into _My Fair Lady_. Don't ask.

Around the same time is when things started going sour.

Beth finally arrived to the party, but brought some dude named Travis with her. Right off, I noticed Rob's trepidation towards this guy. I was just put off when he kept giving me looks across the room. Something was going on between him and Beth, but kept my mouth shut. The last time tried to get something out of Rob (at Mom's behest), I got sucker punched for my troubles, and a black eye that smarted for weeks, when I pushed him too far. In turn, I sprained his ankle when I tackled him and we went tumbling down the stairs.

We apologized to each other in the end, but I learned when not to meddle in my brother's affairs. Hud, however, was not so quick to learn. I tried to ignore him the first time he came, keeping my attentions focused on beating Charlie at Foosball. "Not now Hud!" I snapped at him, knocking the ball away from my goal.

Hud went on and followed Rob and Beth out of the apartment and it was no longer my problem. That is, until he came running to me, again, as I was making my way back to the Foosball table (I owed Charlie forty bucks). Hud was pretty sure that Lily knew something about Rob and Beth, and my curiosity and concern was piqued enough that I was willing to annoy Lily to get some answers.

Well, I got my answers. I can't believe she kept that from me!

* * *

--

"Rob….we gotta talk," Jason announced, without hesitation. Rob looked up from the empty sake bottle, the look of defeat quickly turned in annoyance. Rising from his bed, Rob pointed an accusing finger at Jason and probably Hud, who hovered behind the older brother. "No we don't, leave me alone!" Rob snapped, pacing. "What -- no! I'm not leaving you alone! This is your party, you need to stop being an ass and buck-up," Jason retorted.

"Y-yeah, what--"

"Shut up, Hud!" Both Hawkins brothers snapped, turning to glare at the cameraman. "But I was just agreeing --" A sweeping hand across Jason's throat silenced him. "I'll be quiet." Jason ventured further into the bedroom, followed by Hud who shut the door behind them. Though they now stood in the darkness, Jason could spot the vague outline of his brother's skinny body in front of his dresser. "I don't need a lecture, least of all from you," Rob snapped. Jason chose to ignore the obvious jab at his character and stood his ground. "No, you need another bottle of sake and a warm body--" Jason nearly stopped when Rob spun on his heel and glared at him. "Don't even think about finishing that sentence!" Rob threatened, stepping forward.

"--lying next to you. Oh wait, you just blew that body off," Jason finished, keeping his eyes trained on his brother. Rob felt the side of his mouth twitch, there were a thousand nasty things running through his head right now -- all of them aimed at his brother -- but he couldn't formulate a decent sentence at the moment to even top what Jason just said to him. He respected Lily far too much and didn't want another limb on him twisted.

Rob let out a frustrated sigh, he moved toward the open window of his bedroom, onto the fire escape. Lily must've put them up to this; He knew Jason would have sense enough to just let him cool off in his room, and Hud… everyone would keep Hud away from his door. Yep, Lily's handiwork was written all over this situation. "Look, I'm sorry about what I said. I didn't mean that," Jason apologized. "But you can't stay in here and brood because of what happened between you and Beth--"

"You don't know what your talking about, all right?" Rob interrupted, adjusting himself on the grated stairs. Jason followed his brother to the window, he sat himself on the ledge while Hud ventured a little further outside. "Okay, well, then tell me," Jason insisted, calmly. Rob gave Jason an odd look, but the expression on his older brother's face was entirely serious. He wanted to know and not just because Lily sent him in here to "comfort" him.

--

Dr. Hawkins was officially in. It took about a minute, but Rob finally spilled the beans. In no greater detail than Lily, Rob told us that he slept with Beth a month after their trip to Coney Island. "It was a spur of the moment thing," He told me; They got a little carried away one day at Beth's apartment, and things escalated from there. I reframed from rolling my eyes at him. Rob just couldn't keep it in his pants, I can relate (only I got better end results with Lily). The thing I didn't -- _couldn't_ -- understand was, why he never called her. His excuse was because he was leaving for Japan, he couldn't deal with maintaining a long distance relationship and his new job as well, but I knew better. I know Rob was scared of Beth's perception of his character, maybe even what their relationship would become now that they've consummated.

He's over the moon for this girl, but the self-conscious line of thinking, of not being good enough for her, something even I and a lot of my friends agree on, constantly hinders him. Its become even worse now that they've slept together! Rob even went as far thinking they could remain friends. Rob was lucky if Beth even dared to talk to him again. Especially after that stunt he pulled earlier as she was leaving the party. (I really hope he was kicking himself for that). But if Beth was anything like Lily, she'd forgive Rob, if she hasn't already. _Then again, maybe not._

I told my little brother straight up, that if he didn't get his act together then he would truly loose his chance with Beth and only prove that he wasn't good enough for her. Rob took offense, like I expected him to. Basically, he got the impression that I was trying to _make_ him feel like he wasn't good enough for his "ex"-girlfriend. (He was doing that himself.) Raising a hand, I tried to calm him down and make him see reason. "No, stop, stop! I didn't say "feel" Rob," I said as he turned his gaze back to me. "You're _not_ good enough for her. That's fact. That's -- that's science!" Rob wanted to punch me so bad for this pep talk, especially when I called him a douche bag and Hud was silently agreeing with me. "--She's crazy about you bro! Like, right now, as you are --"

"And you're in love with her," Hud chimed in. Rob leaned back in embarrassment. I continued. "But you've gotta go after her," I told him, feeling the motivation behind my own words. Rob stared at me like I grew two heads, which was understandable at the moment. "Its not that simple!" Rob protested, his voice laced with defeat. I rolled my eyes and shook my head, our mother's mannerisms coming out of me. "No, it _is_ that simple, Rob," I corrected. "Come on man, don't be scared," Hud encouraged. I shot him a look; He should really take his own advice. "Its about moments, man. That's all," I continued on with my speech. I could tell I was getting that faraway expression on my face. Rob just blinked, his nose scrunched up a little. "Moments?" He repeated doubtfully.

"Yes! What, you don't believe me? Ask Lily; she'll give a rundown, chick-flick style," I elaborated. My brother and his friend just shared an equally perplexed expression then looked to me for clarification. At this point, I was really trying not to face-palm myself at their ignorance. Regaining my composure, I tired again. "You've got to learn to say "forget the world", and hang onto the people you care about the most…" Rob tilted his head back and rolled his eyes at me, he knew I was right.

My words hardly had a chance to cool on my tongue when a literal shockwave hit us. We were all of us, caught off guard. My brother and I shouted in unison, while Hud was more verbal in expressing his fear and surprise.

The violent vibration knocked me out of the window, my head collided against the window frame; Instinctively my free hand grabbed Rob's forearm, which scared the crap out of him. The tremor must've lasted no longer than 10 seconds tops, but it felt like forever. When it was over, my mind was left racing a thousand miles per hour. Hud's voice emerged from the background of my ringing ears. "…That scared the shit out me," Hud's voice warbled with some strange sort of relief. Outside I noticed the lights on the buildings flickering on and off.

When I could think straight again, I thought of Lily. I knew Rob and Hud, were safe, but Lily was another question. "Lil!" I bolted from my spot, tripping over and across my brother's discarded clothing. "Jason, wait up!" Rob cried. I grabbed the door knob with shaky hands and stumbled out into the crowd of confusion as the lights flickered back to life, my brother momentarily forgotten. "Lil! Lil, where are you?!" I shouted, looking around. Lily appeared from out of the crowd looking beyond frightened. I rushed over and embraced her, heart racing with relief. "Are you okay?" I breathed. "Yeah. That was scary," She answered shakily, gripping my shirt.

--

_Suggesting that we go the roof is officially the dumbest idea, I've ever had._ Jason thought warily as they trudged up the final flight of stairs. Jason and Rob were among the first to arrive on the rooftop. The air was alive with anticipation and fear of the unknown from the party goes. The news reports called the shockwave an "earthquake". Jason had been unfortunate enough to experience the affects of a tremor from a nearby Earthquake in Minnesota once; His balance had been thrown off, suffered a dizzy spell and was nauseous for a good half-hour afterward.

While he didn't expect that kind of thing to happen often, Jason had a feeling that this was no mere earthquake. He just prayed it wasn't the opposite. Jason looked across the city, eyes searching the illuminated void for some sort of sign of what the news described -- Liberty island was a ways off though. He met Rob's confused gaze briefly before focusing on Lily as she approached him. "We should really get out off the roof, this isn't safe," Lily whispered harshly. "I know, I know, but I wanted to see if I could spot it -- the accident, I guess," Jason replied, his heart pounding. He knew Lily was right, but his curiosity was overpowering his better judgment. He soon found himself engaged in a frantic conversation with one of party goers about what had happened with power in the buildings.

Hud panned across the roof before zooming in on a pacing Rob. "Maybe you've left town a little bit earlier, right?" Hud joked, in spite of his uneasiness. Rob stopped pacing and rolled his eyes at his friend. "Shut up," Rob muttered. No sooner had the words left his mouth, a loud boom echoed across the city. Jason and Lily averted their gazes away from their friend toward the source of the explosion. For a time the darkness was illuminated by the ball of fire and smoke off in the distance, Jason's gaze shifted upward as the meteor sized chunks of fire went hurtling into the air.

--

* * *

The moment the explosion occurred, everybody froze. None of us could believe what was happening; The city just caught fire! What we believed to be an earthquake became something else entirely; The fireballs billowed out above the explosion, going off in all directions, one in particular was heading straight in our general area. I watched as everyone, including Lily, made a bee-line for the rooftop exit. I followed their example once I found my legs again. Most of the party goers had found their way down the stairs, but what few remained were quite tempted to run me over as soon as I got to the door. The fireballs began to crash land all around us, I was right behind Rob when one of them hit the side of the apartment.

The explosion of debris and bodies hit me without warning; I went tumbling down the stairs with several other people, knocking down anyone else unlucky enough to be in our path. I came to a stop when I crashed into the corner of the landing, no one even seemed to notice I had fallen. The air in my lungs was knocked out of me and I could do nothing except watch my world tilt to the side according to the weight of my body.

When I came to, my head was throbbing and the screaming was worse than I remembered. _Lily! Rob!_ Disregarding my own well being, I heaved myself off the ground. I commanded my trembling body to obey me and stumbled down the stairs. I reached the entrance and spotted Rob, Lily, Marlena, and Hud together, relatively unharmed. Lily turned in my general direction as I rushed toward her. "I'm sorry," I cried breathlessly, before I even reached her. For the second time that night I hugged her, I thought my heart would tear out of my chest it was beating so hard. "Where were you?" She asked worriedly, hugging me back. "I'm sorry--" The rest of my apology died when a low rumble shook the streets. Automatically, I pushed Lily behind me looking around for the source of the tremor. The screaming rose in volume, my gaze shifted toward the Woolworth building as its lights flickered out of existence and the building slowly began to descend into a cloud of smoke.

"Did you guys just see that?" Hud blurted, describing our shock. None of us answered, we were too busy watching the spire of the Woolworth building vanish seemingly, into the ground as a cloud of dust rose into the air. "Did you guys just see that!?" Hud repeated frantically. The crowd remained frozen where they stood. Only when they realized that the wall of dust was rolling toward them -- us -- did they start moving. "Oh, shit!" Keeping a firm grip on Lil's hand I followed my brother and our friends into the convenience store just across from us. Not a second later, Lily's hand was knocked from mine, but I was too frightened to even realize it until I fell into a crouched position in the farthest corner of the store I could find.

Rob came flying into the store, running like the devil was snapping at his heels. "Hey!" I shouted to him, as he crouched down beside me. "Are you alright?" Rob looked to me, then looked away, then shifted his attention back to me. "What?" He blurted. "Are you okay?" I repeated as a heavy tremor hit and the lights went out. I swore I heard my brother respond in the positive but I wasn't sure. _Oh, God, what the hell is going on?!_ I thought, as a curly haired woman stumbled over beside me.

I don't think I've been so paralyzed with fear before in my life. My brother and I were still living with the folks in Minnesota when the attack on New York happened in 2001. Everyone in the family was pretty shaken up by the entire event, while I was left feeling numb or indifferent by the entire ordeal. I mean, I mourned for those lost in that event, but I knew I could never presume to know what the survivors went through unless I experienced it myself.

Of course, after seeing that wall of smoke coming toward us, coupled with my fear and confusion of the situation in the last ten minutes (roughly, if I don't count my loss of consciousness), I think I could safely say I knew what kind of fear those people experienced as they tried to escape the wall of toxic building debris and human ash. "We'll just wait here --" I jumped when another tremor rocked the store and a man came running in, "--until this passes! We'll just wait here!" Rob nodded in affirmative, but I wasn't sure if I was trying to assure him or myself. I only just noticed Marlena wasn't among our party when the screaming outside increased. My stomach twisted at the sheer magnitude of the wails, which reached their highest pitch then fell silent just as quickly. "Jesus Christ," I wheezed, my eyes watering. _What was going on?_

"Rob! Rob, I saw it! Rob!" Hud's frantic calls had my head twisting back and forth. "Rob!"

"What?" Rob blurted, confused.

"What is he saying?" I asked my brother. Rob shook his head, Hud's voice was becoming lost in the chaos screaming inside the store and various objects falling off the shelves.

"Rob-- Its alive!" Both Rob and I turned to look at him in question; His words puzzled us but we had no time to ponder over them. The store's windows shattered from the strength of the final tremor, the shards came flying towards us. I raised my arms protect my face, it did nothing, however, to keep the smoke from infiltrating our lungs. We doubled in coughing fits, our bodies overcome by the ferocity of our lungs efforts to expel the toxins from our body.

Behind me, I heard the camera clatter to the floor. After awhile my coughing fit died down, my throat was sorer than I could remember it being, and slowly I made may over to the end of the shelf. Gripping the edge of the shelf, I turned my head to find Lily inching out of her hiding place. "Stay down, Lily!" Get back!" I rasped, waving her back. She paused, eyes wide with fear and mascara running down her face. I pulled myself out of the crouched position only to double over slightly, the smoke was worse closer to the door.

"Jason, what are you doing? Where are going?" Lily and Rob called after me in sequence, panicked. I turned to find Lily had moved closer since the last I looked. "Lily, just wait," I commanded, my voice stronger. Rob was probably more tense than Lily was, he looked about ready to tackle me to the ground if I got any closer to the door. I couldn't help it, I was compelled to venture outside, to make sure it was "safe" (in the general sense that nothing would fall on us), to leave the store.

That, and I wanted to see what happened outside. "Jason don't go out…" Rob trailed off as soon as Lily hopped forward and cried, "Jason don't!" My eyes were stinging at this point -- either from the dust or my own tears -- and Lily's persistence to follow me out into possible danger was putting me on edge. "Lily, just wait here!" I demanded. And with that, I pushed myself upright and stepped outside. "Jason!" My brother or Lily shouted. The world around me was covered with a thick cloud of lingering brown smoke; It was nearly impossible to breathe without coughing.

The surrounding buildings were literally defaced, their remains laid on the ground atop of crushed cars, which were burning or overturned. I could straight into the apartment complexes. And as I completed my turn, I stopped dead in my tracks when I spotted the Statue of Liberty's head, just a couple of feet away from where I stood. My arm fell away from my face like a lifeless limb. "Oh, my God," I heard myself rasp. I'm not even sure why I never noticed it before. My body suddenly felt like it weighed a thousand pounds, I continued to stare at the ruined statue's head until someone bumped into me. In the corner of my eye I noticed Lily, Rob, and Hud gathering around a ghostly Marlena.

None of this made any sense.

--

* * *

"Are you alright?" I looked past a solemn Marlena's head at Lily; I was at a loss to what she meant. Lily gestured to the back of her head, my memory was jogged immediately and blushed. She must've seen me nursing the lump on my head at some point of our journey. "I'm okay," I shrugged my shoulders a little to harshly and winced when a spike of pain ran up the back of my head. Lily's brown eyes widened slightly, I shrugged again -- lightly this time. "I just got a little headache, Lil," I assured her.

"What happened to you anyway? You, like, disappeared. We couldn't find you," I heard Marlena mumble as she looked up at me. I know she was Lily's friend, but I was surprised by the slightest bit of concern from Marlena. In the briefest description I would manage, I told them what happened to me. If it weren't for Marlena and our situation, Lily would've been doing more than asking, "Are you hurt?!" And running a hand down my arm, still against Marlena's back -- incase she slowed down or stopped to look at the carnage. I nodded my head, careful not to aggravate my headache again.

I felt Lily's hand on my wrist, it took a second to realize that I had just nodded in the affirmative. "No, no, no! I'm fine, Lil, honest! Just a little bruised. Nothing's broken," I replied hastily. Lily didn't relax, but the shock was gone from her face, replaced with mild annoyance. "You shouldn't keep things like that from me. What if you had been hurt worse?" Lily chided. I flashed her my brilliant smile, forced as it was. "You'd kiss it, make it all better," I joked. _God that was corny._ Lily just rolled her eyes at me.

"Guys, seriously? Third party here," Marlena reminded us, nudging me in the ribs. "Sorry," I chuckled moving away. Lily and I would have plenty of personal time later. As I moved along with the crowd, I think I spotted Rob somewhere ahead of us, Hud lingered behind us filming. I started to move further away and I barely heard Lily shout, "Stay close, Jason!" I turned to her and nodded. "I will, don't worry!" I shouted over the noise, falling into a normal walking pace. Rob appeared beside me, shutting his cell phone. He was spooked, I could tell he was worried about Beth. "Did you get her?" I asked.

Rob shook his head, knuckles whitening from the strength of his grip on the phone. "Is your phone working?" Rob asked, hopeful. I shook my head; I had been trying to get a hold of Mom and Dad for the past fifteen minutes, but I couldn't get anymore of a signal than Rob. "Mom must be freaking out, huh?" Rob said. I shot him a sideways look; He was trying to lighten the mood, but we both knew how Mom, even Dad, were at the very notion of disaster within our general area. They definitely freaking out. They weren't even comfortable with our moving out to New York, given what happened. We told them not to worry, we'd be fine and knew our way out of the city if anything happened. But we never believed anything would happen... until now. I can honestly say that their show of concern was valid, Rob and I were sure to get the "I told you so" lecture if I ever got them on the phone.

I spotted the Brooklyn bridge ahead of us and exhaled heavily. We were almost out of this mess, whatever it was. "Well, let's not give her a reason to freak then, bro," I replied. Rob didn't answer, I didn't expect him to.

--

* * *

The crowd had grown in size, it was getting harder to stay together. Everyone was in a rush to get across the bridge, never mind who they separated. I tried holding onto Lily's hand to keep her and Marlena with me, but I got bumped ahead of them. I only felt the tips of Lil's fingers before I was shoved forward again. "Jason! Jason, wait for us!" I heard Rob shout. I turned around, searching for his face in the crowd -- I nodded my head despite knowing he'd never see it. I tried standing in one place, hoping they would hurry up, but I ended up getting shoved forward again -- this time by a more aggressive party of bodies. So I decided to go with flow. Looking over my shoulder I spotted Lily and Marlena not too far from me, I sighed with relief and continued onward. The blinding spotlights scanned over the crowd frequently, calling out orders I really couldn't understand.

No one knew what was going on, not even the cops (not surprising, really)! I hated being in the dark about anything, I especially hated not knowing if another attack was coming. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I only caught the tail end of my name being shouted by Lily. Twisting around I caught Marlena beckoning me toward her and Lily still shouting. The crowd kept shoving me ahead, no matter how hard I tried to move against them. "….Beth on the phone!" I heard Lily yell. "What?!" I shouted, fumbling for my phone. If Rob got Beth, then --! A low moan echoed overhead, causing the crowd, myself included, to stir with panic. "What the hell was that?!" A guy cried. "Oh my God, no! No!" The exclamations went on and on. Using the crowd's moment of distraction to my advantage, I made my way over to the pole without resistance.

"Jason!" I squinted through the glare of the helicopter spotlight and caught sight of Lily again, she was so far behind me! Hoisting myself up further on the pole I shouted, "Why did you stop?!" As loud as I could over the roar the helicopter, the churning of the water below and the Goddamn screaming. Lily shouted something else, but I didn't catch it. "What?!" I yelled, my dry throat growing sore again. At this point Lily and Marlena were waving frantically, I just stared on in confusion. "Jason! Jason, watch out!" Now that I did hear. My face twisted in confusion for a second before the splatter of bay water hit my head and shoulders. I glanced up in question; Where the hell was water coming from?

I barely caught sight of the thing above me straighten out, before it came speeding down toward me. The screaming, just seconds before it hit, was like listening to people scream as they were sent downward in a rollercoaster ride -- a high and low kind of thing. When it did hit, I felt every bone in my body snap. There was no one last look to my lover, or my brother. My life never flashed before my eyes and no self-realization dawned on me. There was nothing. Just the indescribable pain as I and everyone else with me was crushed by the weight of our oppressor and pulled down into oblivion.

* * *

_So this is your maverick _

_And this is Vienna _

* * *

**END.**


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